James Smith, thanks so much for posting the video. I am going to incorporate some of your movements into my medball circuit on tempo days on occasion. I tried them, and they are plenty tough!
Charlie, I have the medball download, and I know you talked about the medball work on the GPP download as well. I’ve been doing the medball circuit x2 on tempo days and x1 on speed days along with the situp circuit at least 3x per week, and the difference has been hugely noticeable, especially in my tempo workouts in just one month. My shoulders and arms are so much more relaxed and “down” when running.
Charlie, now that I’m transitioning out of my GPP, can I keep including the medball wall circuit x2 on tempo days and x1 on speed days, or must volume generally decrease as you advance deeper into the SPP?
PS I got worked over by Waldemar on March 7, and he told me to beg you for a mechanical assessment (if you have time).
I think you can probably keep the MB circuits because the same volume should get easier as you go along, adjusting the workload for you but you may need to drop the circuit on speed days depending on what you have left at the end of the session after improved speed.
Along the lines of specificity, do you transition from ground based routines to standing or movement oriented routines? Or do you rely on the sporting movement itself to fill those needs?
The way I block the training, there are elements that do become more specific in terms of overall transference as camps near; however, it’s important to note that even the general training is not entirely non-specific.
Transfer must be understood as negative, neutral, positive as well as indirect and direct.
It is therefore critical that no training ever results in negative transfer because that is synonymous with a waste of time.
In regards to ‘specific abdominal work’ in order to attain a high correlation to field based sport demands the drill would have to become very close to playing the sport itself (in order that all or most of the criteria of dynamic correspondence are met). This is where the ‘functional’ enthusiasts reveal there pedestrian qualification level because you can imagine how perverted the exercise becomes when one attempts to match a component of the competition exercise without possessing a sufficient understanding of biodynamics and bioenergetics.
So what you see in the extensive med ball and abdominal work is highly beneficial supportive, not specific, work. The transfer is positive due to the regime of muscle activity; however, the forces involved are very much different. So this work, in conjunction with other training, serves to develop an excellent work capacity, of positive transfer, from which to either build upon with more intensive demands (in the case of a beginner or one coming of a prolonged period of no training) or a strong supportive element that is performed in concert with more intensive forms of training within the same training week, such as tempo, (and in this sense it also serves a restorative function due to its extensive nature).
Thanks for posting video James and thanks for awesome posts, along with Charlie. I am glad you are again posting Charlie!
Actually, I do similar training as you have posted. Currently, in this ‘block’ I aim at improving my aerobic capacity for boxing practices. I cannot highly suggest a book by Joel Jamieson: “Ultimate MMA conditioning” that utilize Block approach toward MA/MMA athletes. Joel calls this kind of aerobic capacity training an aerobic plyometrics (if I remember correctly). I noticed that after a wall MB drills my form and pace on LSD run is better (better transfer of energy through the core?), along with having better upper body endurance and power for striking.
Although this is a form of plyometric core work, I see it rather as “aerobic upper body plyos” (for lower body aerobic plyos I use hops on coordination ladder and/or jump rope).
The workout I did before couple of days was:
Boxing practice
Cardiac output (aerobic capacity)
Bike for 10min @140bpm
MB wall for for 10min (HR was around 140-150bpm) w/3kg MB (I should use heavier but I don’t have one at the moment) [I do a movement for 20-30 fast reps and continually for 10mins)
repeat twice
Total duration 40min
I also run for 20-30min on grass 3x/wk (preparing for tempo and aerobic power intervals) and do 3x/wk upper/lower strength work. This kind of aerobic capacity work provides good aerobic stimuli for upper body and lower body without screwing my shins (compared to running every day).
For core work I also do:
Full contact twists w/2x20kg on one bar end for 10-12 reps
Hanging leg raises
Side bridge holds w/20kg plate for 30-60sec
Roll-out
Chops
I am not a fan of high-reps crunches etc, although I do them from time to time at boxing practices with the “crew”.
I will try to post a video or something in due course…
The stuff on CF is a bit too high for beginners, they have to learn the basics before going high performance.
my humble opinion
I suggested the vid of workout needed a few posteral changes, heels off the ground, bum back and knees slightly bent. By doing this it will allow more time for the muscle groups to be controlled. I assume CF med ball work is much closer to the wall with much more speed involved. The beginner would be relying more on the hip stabilisers as apposed to abs.
We used to do them supported with a partner but I don’t think a well trained guy like shown is likely to have an issue with relative small loads of that type. (They did pick a realistic guy with long legs for this.) Of course there’ll be complaints but the only way to please everyone is to do nothing.
Take a look at Stuart McGill’s work on abs. It is quite interesting and having injured my back his stuff makes sense. And guess what, he is also a Canadian!
Earlier you mention your guys did 2000yds, 900throws, and 1500abs twice a week. Let’s say for some odd reason you had to train 4 str days (Mon-Thur) for a period of 4 weeks would you still have done the same amount of low intensity leading into the second speed day or something along these lines?
For a sprinter, the decision would be based on whether we are closer to GPP or SPP
Closer to GPP I might select to prioritize general fitness and keep the temp volumes the same on each day and reduce the volume of the second speed day to 60 or 50% of the workload of the first speed day.
Closer to SPP I might prioritize the speed work and reduce the volume of the second tempo workload by 50-60%.
There’s clearly much more to discuss regarding each scenario; however, I’ve had great success in reducing latter part of the training week workloads by 50-60% based upon the emphasis of the block.
Correct, however, trust me in that the interplay between the varied training elements on all days yields positive results; even though the sprint volume on the second speed day is considerably lower than the first.
My suggestion is not theoretical, I’ve done this for a few years now (only at certain times of course) and the results are continuously positive.
Additionally, I should have first clarified that the workload adjustments need not apply to all training modalities for a given day. Meaning, if the sprint volume is reduced to 50-60% of the volume performed earlier in the week, you may perform the same, or more, volume of throws and jumps- as one example only.
I should also note that the lower the volume is on the second session the more favorable it is to ensure that the distance of the sprint reps are on the longer end relative to the block.
So, if 0-30m is the range and day one was 360-390m then day two would consist of 180-216m or 195-234m, respectively. In either case, I’d suggest that the session consist of all 30m efforts and as such you’d get a total of 6-8 x 30m which is fine for a GPP session; particularly if the volume of throws and jumps were to increase on that day.
Lastly, since the example you referenced is GPP we must remember that we may disperse additional intensive elements across all training days so there’s more opportunities to get some stimulus that you may be concerned of missing via a substantial reduction in sprint volumes on the second speed day.
